09-Jun-2006 -- This is the second of our three confluences (see 22N 79W, 20N 75W) on this trip.

Driving east along Carretera Central towards Las Tunas, we were expecting to get close to this confluence a bit before entering the town. As the GPS arrow started pointing to the left instead of ahead, we started looking for side roads. At best the distance from Carretera Central was 1.7 km. We drove back and forth the main road and tried multiple small dirt roads, but they all ended up at people's houses or tiny communities, not bringing us much closer to the confluence. The vegetation in the area did not allow hiking outside the roads.

Eventually we decided to drive ahead until the next main crossroads, to get across the railway that lay between the main road and the confluence. Soon we reached one, a crossroads with a piece of revolutionary artwork. For our delight, the road took a promising course towards the confluence. Next to a military academy an even more promising side road headed towards the confluence. We could only hope they were not training spy hunters in this academy. You never know what a zealous trainee might think of two confluence hunters snooping around with cameras, maps and GPS-devices.

Again we ended up testing the limits of the all-terrain capabilities of our car. There were huge puddles on the road and a lot of mud. We first overtook a horse carriage, but later allowed it to overtake us to show us the firmest and shallowest parts of the road. Unlike most roads in Cuba, almost nobody appeared to live next to this one. All you saw was dense thorny thicket, trying to overflow onto the road, and very few side roads. Clearly we needed some good luck if we were going to reach this point. We had already started distancing from the confluence when suddenly a path to the left appeared. The distance at this point was over 600 metres. Would it take us close enough? We did not feel like leaving the car alone on the road, so I went alone. The path headed miraculously straight toward the confluence, but then at some 200 metres away it started turning to the right and the closest I could get was 150 metres. I decided to walk a bit further anyway, and I was rewarded by a clearing which allowed me to approach until 62 metres away. Good enough to count as a succesful visit! I recommend a machete for future visitors keen on achieving all zeroes.

Part of the path was flooded ankle deep, which was enough to put off Mari-Helena, so once I returned to the car, we drove away without scoring a point for her.

Our next confluence would be 20N 75W, the closest one to the notorious Guantánamo Bay.